“Alright. It’s not dangerously high, but we wanna watch for preeclampsia,” she says, just like the nurse did. “Watch for headaches, blurry vision, pain under your ribs, swelling in your hands or face. If anything like that happens, I want you to call.”
“Okay,” I say.
She flips through my chart. “We’ll take some labs today and listen to baby’s heartbeat.” She stands. “Do you know what you’re having?”
“A girl.”
“Aww, that’s exciting. I have three,” she tells me.
“Oh wow.” I laugh as I lie back and lift my shirt for her to squirt the gel over my stomach.
She presses the Doppler against my skin and glides it over the gel, then the sound of a heartbeat fills the room.
“There she is,” Dr. Patel says, listening for a few more seconds.
Even though I’ve felt her move—those tiny kicks and rolls—the sound of her heartbeat is assuring to hear. She’s steady, strong, safe, and very real.
It’s the kind of reminder I didn’t know I needed.
* * *
“So…Cody,” I say, breaking the quiet in the car as we head home. “He told me about his ex, but not much. Didn’t really go into detail.”
“Did he?” Ella asks. She seems surprised.
“Yeah, I just wanted to ask you about it more before I say something I shouldn’t? I don’t know.”
“Honestly, I have no idea what happened there. I wasn’t with Jesse then. I never knew her. I—”
“Wait, what? I thought you guys were high school sweethearts?”
She laughs. “Oh, girl, it wasn’t that simple.” She shakes her head.
Then she launches into the whole story—how she moved to Texas for college without even telling him she’d applied. How they had a gut-wrenching breakup, stayed apart, lived separate lives. She graduated, dated…even got engaged. Then she broke it off and moved back here ten years later, just to see if Jesse still wanted her.
I don’t know who sings that song, but I’m pretty sure there’s a country hit with that exact storyline.
* * *
Jesse and Ella’s cabin smells like laundry detergent. It’s lived-in but clean. Pillows on the couches, blankets tossed over the backs. A few toys scattered across the living room floor and a coffee table with an empty baby bottle.
Jesse’s standing in the kitchen when we walk in, holding Cora in one arm.
“Hey.” He smiles at me.
“Hi,” I reply, suddenly unsure of how to act in front of other humans.
His baby-blue eyes are stupid bright. The kind that catch you off guard when he actually looks at you. Add in the rest of him…and yeah, I’m a little tongue-tied.
Ella’s a lucky woman. Hell, all these boys are ridiculously attractive. Any woman would be lucky to have any of them. How Jesse is the only one married is beyond me.
Jesse turns Cora outward so she sees Ella, and her smile is the sweetest thing ever.
“She’s been looking for you,” he says, handing her over.
“I bet.” She presses a kiss to Cora’s cheek and Jesse looks back to me.
“How was everything? The appointment?”
